


Palm Dreams

by sweeterthankarma



Series: Pride Month Prompts 2020 [16]
Category: Dead To Me (TV)
Genre: Established Relationship, F/F, People Watching, Post-Season/Series 02, Pride Parades
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-16
Updated: 2020-06-16
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:42:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24758749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweeterthankarma/pseuds/sweeterthankarma
Summary: A girl no older than eighteen passes by, carrying a pastel pink surfboard, the shade almost identical to that of the sunset nearly every night this past week. Judy catches sight of her laces, rainbow striped and swooped unceremoniously through the holes of her sneakers. It prompts Judy to turn her gaze back at Jen and ask, words tumbling out eagerly, “have you ever been to pride?”Jen looks up, distracted. “What? No.” A second later she adds, “up until I met you, I thought I was straight,” and nudges the heel of her flat into the side of Judy’s sandal.
Relationships: Judy Hale/Jen Harding
Series: Pride Month Prompts 2020 [16]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1769956
Comments: 16
Kudos: 69





	Palm Dreams

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Pride Month and welcome to my first ever month-long fic challenge! For thirty days, I'll be writing and posting LGBTQ+ fics inspired by the prompts listed [here](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/517562182177703635/). These fics will be anywhere from 100-1,500 words, will be for different fandoms, ships and characters, and will all stand alone. Here goes nothing!
> 
> Day 16 Prompt: Surfboard.
> 
> Title comes from the song by the same name by Hayley Kiyoko.

Every Saturday morning when it isn’t raining or they aren’t hungover, Jen and Judy sit at a picnic table by the beach. It’s Los Angeles, seventy degrees and sunny more days out of the year than not, and so the morning after nausea from too much booze is far more likely than storm clouds. It’s something Judy tries to make a joke about when an always inquisitive, increasingly nosy Karen calls to them from her front doorstep, suspicious of them now after everything that’s happened . Honestly, they get it, they probably would be too if the roles were reversed, but Karen also clearly hasn’t caught up to the fact that Jen and Judy are dating, and therefore she wouldn’t be invited to come along even if she wasn’t a depressing divorcee. 

The air is hot and stagnant along the water, though every now and then a breeze passes by. As if on command, Judy will tip her head back and close her eyes, take in the feeling, and say “ahh, that’s nice.” Jen will mock her repetition, her awe that seems almost passe and childish, but they both know she finds it adorable. She finds everything that Judy does adorable.

It may be eleven thirty in the morning, earlier than usual, but they stick to their usual routine and sip cheap rosé from plastic Starbucks cups, venti size and filled only a little more than halfway to the brim — they’re not alcoholics, after all. They took a taxi to the coastline, deciding they could splurge this week instead of alternating their roles as drivers of Jen’s minivan and leaving one of them to be envious and thirsty. Besides, the last time Judy took a small sip from Jen’s bottle was just to hydrate herself, but then one sip turned into multiple and all of a sudden the wine was gone and they ended up wandering along the esplanade for hours, tipsy and sunburnt and laughing until one of them was sober enough to drive home. Judy’s a terrible DD, never reliable. Thank God for Uber. 

Jen and Judy both like to people watch. Judy’s far more kind and likes to imagine where strangers are from, what they do for a living, what their deepest and darkest secrets and best moments of their lives are, but that doesn’t stop her from giggling when Jen drops insults, rapidfire and scathing. 

Jen’s too busy on her phone — texting Charlie and making sure he’s awake to do his laundry and empty the dishwasher like he was supposed to last night —  to see the next group of strangers pass by. They’re young, loud and excitable, and Judy watches with a soft smile as a girl no older than eighteen passes them, looks a little too long at Jen and Judy’s intertwined hands resting on the splinter covered wooden table. She carries a pastel pink surfboard, the shade almost identical to that of the sunset nearly every night this past week, and Judy catches sight of her laces, rainbow striped and swooped unceremoniously through the holes of her sneakers. It prompts Judy to turn her gaze back at Jen and ask, words tumbling out eagerly, “have you ever been to pride?” 

Jen looks up, distracted. “What? No.” A second later she adds, “up until I met you, I thought I was straight,” and nudges the heel of her flat into the side of Judy’s sandal.

It takes some convincing on Jen’s part, probably just because she likes to make Judy plead and show her just how badly she wants her — in every possible aspect— but  they go to the parade next Friday, Judy wearing purples, pinks and blues of various hues, a walking version of the bisexual pride flag. Jen wears what she always does, something formal and ironed and far too plain for a celebration of this kind —  _ a protest, _ Judy tells her,  _ the first pride was a riot— _ but when the parade passes them and Judy catches plastic beaded necklaces in her open palms, Jen wears them all. She even puts the stickers and cheap temporary tattoos on, a messy smattering of color across her arms, just for the way that it makes Judy smile and giggle and lunge in to kiss her over and over. She’ll attend a million pride parades if it makes Judy happy, and besides, she kind of likes it herself too, if she’s honest. It feels good to embrace this part of her that she’s never really uncovered until now, and celebrate the love that she’s found in her best friend along the way. The free samples in the beer garden don’t warrant any complaints, either.

**Author's Note:**

> Come say hi and celebrate pride month with me on Tumblr [here.](https://sweeterthankarma.tumblr.com/)


End file.
